The present invention relates to computerized medical diagnostic techniques, and more particularly, to computerized systems and methods for performing medical diagnoses that take into account various combinations of patient test results and other data.
The last 100 years have produced a tremendous volume of knowledge of the human body, its disease processes and the treatment of many disease processes using alternative natural care, including dietary modification and vitamin and nutrient supplementation. It is not possible for any individual practitioner to remember all of the analyte levels and the relationships and variables of the different tests as well as interpret the meaning of all of the relationships and variables of the different tests that are available with current medical testing technology.
Accordingly, computerized medical diagnostic systems and methods have been developed. Such systems receive medical test results of a patient and generate a diagnosis based on those test results. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,070 which is directed to a computerized diagnostic system in which a patient is given medical tests and the test results (“analytes”) are then put into a computer system to assess whether the patient's analyte levels are low, high or average, compared to a typical group. The analyte levels are then compared with vitamin and nutrient data in a database to determine which vitamins and nutrients would have a positive or negative effect on the analyte. Those vitamins and nutrients having a positive effect on the analyte levels are retrieved from the database and reported. Treatment plans and other remedial measures may also be suggested. That diagnostic system provides the same result for each analyte value regardless of the presence of other varying analyte values from other tests.
A problem with such computerized diagnostic systems and methods is that they lack the ability to take into account the multiple inter-relationships of various test factors and the roles the combinations and inter-relationships of those factors and test results have on creating a proper and accurate diagnosis. Accordingly, there is a need for a computerized medical diagnostic system and method that is capable of generating a diagnosis and treatment regimen in which numerous test results are considered in combination.